The Filipino Piecemeal Sugar Strike of 1924–1925

The 1924 Filipino sugar strike came as a shocking blow to Hawaii's self-image. The tragic deaths at Hanapepe were regarded as an anomaly in Hawaii's peaceful, idyllic image. Yet as Reinecke's research clearly indicates, the sugar industry was building to a climax in the 1920s. In the traditional sense, the strike was a "piecemeal" affair, lacking clear goals and having virtually no leadership or plans. These young, largely illiterate, Filipinos wrought massive changes in the industry, forcing the plantations into a more modern, industrial mode; into what was widely known thereafter as the Big Five. Evidence from the University of Hawaii's new archive collection, the H.S.P.A. Plantation Archives, not available to Dr. Reinecke, completes the picture of the strike with evidence of the massive changes in management, recruitment and labor policies. The strike remains as he described it in his title: "The Piecemeal Strike." The new evidence rounds out the transformation of the industry.

Ritualized Writing takes readers into the fascinating world of Japanese Buddhist manuscript cultures. Using archival sources that have received scant attention in English, primarily documents from an eighth-century Japanese scriptorium and colophons from sutra manuscripts, Bryan D. Lowe uncovers the ways in which the transcription of Buddhist scripture was a highly ritualized endeavor. He takes a ground-level approach by emphasizing the activities and beliefs of a wide range of individuals, including scribes, provincial patrons, and royals, to reassess the meaning of scripture and reevaluate scholarly narratives of Japanese Buddhist history.

Copying scripture is a central Buddhist practice and one that thrived in East Asia. Despite this, there are no other books dedicated to the topic. This work demonstrates that patrons and scribes treated sutras differently from other modes of writing. Scribes purified their bodies prior to transcription. Patrons held dedicatory ceremonies on days of abstinence, when prayers were pronounced and sutras were recited. Transcribing sutras helped scribes and patrons alike realize this- and other-worldly ambitions and cultivate themselves in accord with Buddhist norms. Sutra copying thus functioned as a form of ritualized writing, a strategic practice that set apart scripture as uniquely efficacious and venerable.

Lowe employs this notion of ritualized writing to challenge historical narratives about ancient Japan (late seventh through early ninth centuries), a period when sutra copying flourished. He contends that Buddhist practice fulfilled a variety of social, political, and spiritual roles beyond ideological justification. Moreover, he demonstrates the inadequacy of state-folk dichotomies for understanding the social groups, institutions, and individual beliefs and practices of ancient Japanese Buddhism, highlighting instead common organizations across social class and using models that reveal shared concerns among believers from diverse social backgrounds.

Contents Introduction Publisher’S Note 1. The Filipino Piecemeal Sugar Strike Of 1924–1925 2. Cayetano Ligot Versus Pablo Manlapit 3. A Hopeless, Irresponsible Strike 4. The Course Of The Strike 5. HSPA Law And Order 6. The Strike On Oahu 7. The Strike On Hawaii 8. The Strike On Maui 9. The Strike On Kauai 10. The Battle Of Hanapepe 11. Pantaleon Inayuda And The Criminal Libel Case 12. The Conspiracy Trial 13. Oxiles, The Government Witnesses, And Amnesty 14. Manlapit’S Parole 15. A Decade Of Little Change 16. Manlapit, Taok, Ligot 17. Jose Figueras’ Tour Of Inspection 18. Exeunt Taok, Manlapit, And Butler 19. Epilogue Postscript Appendix A. Pantaleon Inayuda’S Testimony On April 7 And 10 Conversations Notes Note On Sources Bibliography Index